Wife Sparks Debate After Husband Demands Son’s Friend Only Speak English at Home

Playdates are a perfect way for children to establish friendships, practice social skills and learn new cultures. But one husband and wife were at odds over their 12-year-old son’s playdates with his Spanish-speaking Latina friend.

The boy’s mother turned to Reddit’s “Am I The A**hole” for advice. She stated that her youngest son befriended a 12-year-old girl last year, and they regularly had playdates over the summer.

“She’s Hispanic, and she sometimes says things in Spanish. Whenever she says anything in Spanish, my husband will ask her what she said, even if she’s in an entirely different room,” the user explained in the thread.

The young girl speaks Spanish casually when visiting the couple’s home, but the dad seemingly had an issue with it.

The father demanded the girl translate every time she spoke Spanish

The mom recalled watching the children play from the living room. She said her husband was in the kitchen and overheard the young girl speak Spanish during their playdate.

“She said something in Spanish, and he came out of the kitchen and asked her to repeat herself and explain the translation,” she wrote. “I felt so embarrassed. She looked confused, and it was just so awkward. She wasn’t talking to him, why does it matter?”

According to the user, she disliked how her husband treated the young girl and finally confronted him about it. 

The dad questioned why his wife was concerned about the girl’s feelings

She opened up to her husband about his behavior, prompting him to question why she cared so much about what the young girl thought about them as a family.

“I said it was embarrassing, and he asked me if I was seriously worried about what a twelve year old thought of us? I came away from the conversation feeling really stupid,” the user said.

The user added she doesn’t respond well in awkward situations, but wanted to ask the internet if she was overreacting about her husband’s behavior.

“I know it’s a harmless question, and I shouldn’t make such a big deal about it, but I often feel embarrassed in awkward situations, and it always feels so awkward when he does this,” she wrote.

Adding, “Am I the a**hole for asking him to stop just because I’m embarrassed even though he did nothing wrong?”

Users responded to the thread by calling the dad a “bully”

The user’s thread received thousands of responses, with most comments insinuating the dad’s behavior was discriminatory, “racist” and that he was a “bully” to the young girl.

One user pointed out the dad’s lack of encouragement to his son about learning a new culture and language. “The ‘we only speak English in this house’ vibes are a little bit racist. It’d be entirely different if he was asking for translations so he could understand the language better or encourage his own kid to learn a new language,” the user wrote.

Another said the dad was clearly trying to force the young girl to speak English. “He’s trying to bully her into not speaking Spanish around him, by treating her that way. It’s rude and he’s hiding behind the opinions thing to make it seem like an OP problem.”

Meanwhile, a commenter said the dad was a “A bully and a xenophobe. This poor girl is just trying to hang out with her friend, she shouldn’t have to repeat herself.”

Adding, “And not everything has an exact translation, if she’s ESL she may not know precisely how to sit there and translate her every thought for this guy.”